An LED is composed of an epitaxial structure such as a homo-structure, a single hetero-structure, a double hetero-structure or a multiple quantum well. An LED having a p-n junction interface that can emit light with various wavelengths has several characteristics, such as a low electrical power consumption, low heat generation, long operational life, small volume, good impact resistance, fast response and excellent stability; thus the LED has been popularly used in electrical appliances and electronic devices as a light source.
Typically, an LED is composed of an epitaxial structure having a substrate, an n-type cladding layer formed over the substrate, a p-type cladding layer and an active layer formed between the n-type cladding layer and the p-type cladding layer. Light is emitted as current flows through the epitaxial structure. The light wavelength can be altered by varying the composition of the epitaxial structure material.
To improve performance, an LED requires some downstream processes to increase its brightness, thermal conductivity or the effectiveness of current diffusion. The downstream processes, such as a cutting process, may require a substrate transferring technology or a wafer bonding technology for forming additional substrates made of metal or III-V semiconductor materials. Either copper having good thermal conductivity or silicon with good process abilities (for example, with high rigidity and low coefficient of thermal expansion) is appropriate for forming the additional substrates. However, applying copper or silicon individually cannot improve both the yield of the downstream processes and the performance of an LED simultaneously, even though copper has good thermal conductivity and silicon has good processability. The process yield can be improved with copper due to its high thermal conductivity, but its poor rigidity and large coefficient of thermal expansion creates bad processability, particularly when a thinner copper substrate is required. Meanwhile, the performance of an LED can be improved with silicon since its coefficient of thermal expansion compliments downstream processes, but its poor thermal conductivity creates poor process yield.
It is desired, therefore, to provide a method for forming an LED having good thermal conductivity and good processability so as to improve the yield and performance thereof.